The Housemate
by Tessa Cresswell
Summary: "Room for rent: 28 year old professional woman seeking non-smoking, clean housemate. Must be employed and like cats. Fully furnished with own bathroom. Contact the below number for an inspection". AU.
1. The idea

**Hello. **

**This little plot bunny appeared as I was writing my NaNoWriMo piece and it wouldn't go away. So here it is. It is currently rated T but I may find I shall have to change it down the track. **

**It's an idea I haven't come across before on FF, so l****et me know what you think! **

**All names associated with Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling.**

* * *

"I think it's about time you looked at getting a housemate Hermione."

Hermione looked at the woman sitting in front of her with a look of disbelief. "A housemate? Are you being serious?"

"Perfectly."

"She does have a point you know. You're 28 years old and you've never lived with anyone else."

Four voices murmured in agreement and Hermione groaned in exasperation. She had invited her five friends out for lunch to celebrate her birthday and for the majority of the afternoon, the hot topic of conversation had been her single status.

Her five friends were all in relationships and four of them already had children. The fifth was currently expecting. Luna Lovegood- who was one of her oldest friends and the one to suggest the housemate- had been married for six years and had a three year old daughter. Ginny Potter-the one who reminded her that she was 28- and her partner Harry Potter were her neighbours who had been married for four years and had a three year old son. Lavender Brown had a sixth month old daughter with her boyfriend of sixteen months, but due to the two women living in different parts of England, they rarely got to see each other. Hermione had never met the woman's partner, but apparently his name was Seamus.

Pansy Parkinson was one of the new additions to Hermione's group of friends and the two had met at a conference a year ago. Pansy was older than the other girls by a good four years, but age meant little between the women. She had been with her fiancé for six years and had an eight year old step-daughter that Hermione positively adored. Finally, Hannah Abbott was Hermione's brother's girlfriend and the one who was expecting a baby.

The six were an odd group, but they were Hermione's closest girlfriends.

Placing her hands flat on the table, Hermione said loudly, "Okay Okay, I got the picture! I'm 28 and alone! But I don't know why I need a housemate though."

Hermione saw the five girls eyeing each other. It was Pansy who spoke. "Hermione you know we love you. But you're 28! You have a huge apartment to yourself that just sits there when you are out of town. I think a housemate will be good for you. Someone who can look after the place when you're gone and who can help you pay the rent."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I can pay the rent perfectly fine, thank you very much."

Pansy sighed and rolled her eyes. "We know you can, but imagine what an extra 300 pounds a week could do!"

Having been in the process of taking a sip of her water, Hermione choked and spluttered at Pansy's words. "300 pounds? Who on earth will pay 300 pounds just for a room?"

Silence met her question. Lavender, probably the least well off amongst the girls, placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Sweetie, your apartment is huge. You pay way too much money a week just to store your clothes. You're so very rarely there that it is a waste of your money to even own it."

Hermione scoffed. "I'm there plenty. Why would I want some stranger living in my house just to help pay rent?"

It was Hannah who answered that question for her. Pushing her sunglasses further up her nose, Hannah said in her soft voice, "Before I met your brother, I lived in share accommodation. It's really not like that you know. Sure it can be awkward at first. Especially if you end up with a guy as a housemate and you catch him shagging in the kitchen," Hermione gaped at the woman, but Hannah ignored her and continued, "but you will probably find that when you're there, the other won't be. And vice versa."

"So what's the point of that then?"

Three girls groaned and the other two merely smiled. Pansy looked at her watch and then stood up. "While this has been a lovely lunch, I need to be off." Picking her handbag up from the floor, she winked at Hermione. "You girls do what you can to convince her. I really don't fancy buying her another cat for Christmas this year."

Ginny and Lavender laughed, Luna shook her head and said something about miniature Dachshunds while Hannah sighed and muttered that Crookshanks- Hermione's current cat- gave her allergies.

The five women watched Pansy walk away. For a 32 year old woman, she was in better health than them all combined. She was lithe and graceful and Hermione knew that she ran twice a day to keep her figure trim. She couldn't prove it, but she swore Pansy was some sort of ninja with the way that she tackled juggling a full time career, a partner, a child and an exercise regime that put most women to shame. Her other friends had stopped working after having children, but Hannah was still plodding along in her job as a bakery assistant. Apparently she was aiming to stop working a month before she was due; she was currently four months along.

Hermione didn't mind being 28, single and childless. She was career driven and could never imagine taking time off to raise a child. Of course, she would have to find a man first, live with him for at least two years, get married and then consider having children.

She watched as the four remaining women surrounding her debated the pros and cons of share houses. Hermione wasn't completely opposed to the idea, but she wasn't sold on it. It was true that she was frequently away and that her apartment just sat there, but she had never found herself lonely. Ginny and Harry would look after Crookshanks for her when she went away, so she didn't even need someone to 'catsit' him.

Suddenly Lavender's fist came down onto the table hard making them all jump. "I know what you should do!"

Four pairs of eyes met the fist that had caused the offensive sound before Lavender continued, looking slightly embarrassed by her enthusiasm. "You should stick an advert up just to see if anyone is interested in paying you for one of your rooms."

Hermione sighed. This was not how she envisioned her birthday lunch.

"That's a great idea Lav," chimed Hannah.

"She should write 'Looking for sexy man who knows how to cook and likes cats'," Ginny giggled.

At Hermione's glare though, she quickly quietened down. It was Luna who was the voice of reason much to Hermione's relief. "What would you be looking for hypothetically in a housemate anyway?"

Before Hermione could respond, Hannah said "Male," Ginny said "Hot," and Lavender said "Cats."

"I asked Hermione, not you three house wives who live vicariously through Hermione."

Hermione laughed at the fallen faces of her friends. "I don't know what I would want. I suppose I would want a person who likes cats. But I don't care if it's male or female or what they look like." Frowning, she really gave it thought. "Ok, well I'd want someone else who works, but I don't care if it's shift work or office hours. They can't smoke. And umm, anything else?"

Four faces stared back at her. "You don't ask for much do you?" Ginny said.

Hermione shrugged. "I'm just going along with this to shut you girls up."

Luna let out a short laugh while Lavender pouted, but it was Hannah who spoke for the girls again. "Just go away and think about it alright? Now that we have planted the seed into your head, you might find yourself growing to the idea."

Shaking her head at her friend's persistence, she flagged a waiter down to collect the bill. "We shall see," was all she said cryptically.

* * *

Three hours later, Hermione was back in front of her laptop. She was an employee of the Department of Prosecutions and was currently working on one of the biggest cases she had been given permission to work on. A well known bike gang had been investigated by police for over three years as part of a crackdown on bike gang violence, and the amount of evidence collected during the investigation was phenomenal. Hermione had been given the task of working on the case of the only female biker involved.

Bellatrix Lestrange was the wife of the gang's most notorious member, but the evidence against her was not as damning as the evidence against her husband. The evidence given to Hermione indicated that Bellatrix was in charge of gang run brothels and collected the funds from the drugs traded. Despite the evidence in front of her, Hermione couldn't help but feel there was something she was missing.

Call it intuition or dedication, but things did not add up when it came to the woman and this was why Hermione was spending the remaining hours of her birthday working. Witness statements seemed flimsy and they all seemed to say the same thing, no matter how distant the association of the witnesses. To Hermione, it seemed like they had been trained to say their statements, but when she had mentioned this to her supervisor, he had looked at her evidence but then assured her that the crimes against Bellatrix were fairly straight forward and so there was no need to think that witnesses had been coached on what to say.

Despite this, Hermione persisted with digging deeper. There was something about Bellatrix Lestrange that sent alarms going in her head, and Hermione trusted herself enough to know that there was something bigger than the information that the police had found.

All she had to do was find a crack in the evidence.

She spent another two hours working before she called it a night and headed to bed. Working late on a Saturday was normal for Hermione as she gave herself Sundays to sleep in and laze about the house. After studying her arse off at University, she knew how dangerous it was to work herself too hard.

As she propped herself up against the headboard of her bed, she picked up her Jane Austen novel and began to read. Instead of following Emma's life however, she found herself thinking about the housemate conversation from earlier that day. Having never lived with another person since moving out of her parents house nine years ago, Hermione was a bit out of practice. She wondered whether a housemate would mind her taking over the kitchen table to work on her cases or if they would be bothered by her early bird habits on weekdays. Would her housemate understand why she saved every jar she used or why she stored onions in the fridge?

Would her beloved cat like them?

The unknowns were beginning to circle around in her head. Groaning in frustration, she hit her head against the head board and closed her eyes with a sigh. Why couldn't her friends just accept that she lived alone? Deciding that she needed to focus on getting some sleep, Hermione placed her book on the bedside table and flicked her lamp off.

In typical Hermione Granger fashion, she decided to prepare a pro's and con's list in the morning. She would analyze this from every angle possible. She had been working in law for too long not to have suspicions when it came to people. Law had taught her that being paranoid was a good thing, especially given some of the crimes that she had worked on in the past. The last thoughts swirling in her head centered around a case that she has read years ago about a man killing his housemate for playing his music too loud.

Thankfully Hermione did not play music, but what habits did she have that could invoke a strong passion like murder in a person?

She was too young to die just yet!

* * *

**Next update soon!**

**x**


	2. The advert

**Hello!**

**Ta-da! New chapter so soon!**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns HP names!**

* * *

"Ok so I've decided you were right."

"Well that's good; I'm always right, but what am I right about this time?"

Hermione sighed. It had been three weeks since her birthday and the housemate issue had been on her mind a lot since then. She had not been keen on the idea, but after the events of that afternoon, she decided that maybe a housemate wouldn't be so bad.

She was currently away on a four day conference for work when she had been contacted by the police. The police had let her know that her security system had been set off but no signs of forced entry had been found. As she was only on day two of the four day event, she was unable to leave the conference.

Hermione put it down to a need to lay mouse bait and dismissed the concern of the police, but found herself wishing she was able to get back to her apartment to ensure everything was all right.

And that was when the idea of a housemate had really stuck in her mind. So there she was at ten o'clock at night on the phone to Pansy talking about her idea.

"I need a housemate."

Pansy let out a sigh that sounded a lot like a sigh of relief. "Finally! I was beginning to think I needed to plan an intervention!"

"Har har," Hermione said sarcastically. "Seems, I came 'round to it in my own time."

Pansy laughed at her tone. "So when are you going to put an advertisement up?"

Hermione cocked her head to the side and thought about it. She didn't know how long it would take to find a housemate that she liked, so she might as well start early. She was going to France in two months, so she wanted someone to watch the house then.

Switching her phone to the other ear she responded, "I dunno, soon as possible?" She worded it like a question- she didn't know the first thing about looking for people to live with. Hell, she'd never even lived with a boyfriend before!

"Why are you asking me? You're the one looking," Pansy laughed.

Hermione groaned. "Ok fine, soon then. Maybe when I get back on Friday. I'll write some ideas up now and email them to you."

"No!" Pansy practically shouted.

Well, that wasn't the reaction she expected. "Uh, Pans, you ok?"

On the other end of the line, Pansy let out a laugh. "Yea sorry, just telling the dog not to jump."

Since when did Pansy have a dog? Not bothering to question it further- it was probably another one of her partner's charity cases- Hermione laughed.

"But seriously, I think you should contact Hannah about the ad. She's lived in share houses before so she probably knows the best things to write. I mean you don't want to come across as a psychopath or something. Or encourage a weirdo to live with you."

"How would I encourage a weirdo to live with me?"

"You're Hermione Granger; you encourage weirdo's every day!"

Slightly offended, Hermione responded back, "No I don't!"

Pansy's laugh echoed down the telephone. "Remember that time some guy came up to you and asked if you could tie his shoelaces?"

Hermione cringed. "You promised never to talk about that again!"

"Yes well, it was funny. And I will bring it up again at your wedding. If you ever get married of course," Pansy tacked on.

"Ugh, leave me alone!" Hermione whined.

Pansy laughed again before saying that she needed to go, "Let me know what Hannah says!" she demanded before hanging up.

Hermione sighed as she slipped her iPhone back into her pocket. She was staying in Edinburgh for the duration of the conference and she was finding the city peaceful, completely different to London where sirens could be heard frequently at all hours of the day.

She had been talking to Pansy while she had been standing on the balcony of her hotel room breathing in the fresh air. Now that she had hung up, she was leaning against the railing looking out as a car drove past every now and then on the street below her.

It didn't take long before she became restless with doing nothing, so she decided to make a start on her housemate ad. Pushing off the iron rail, so walked over to the sliding doors and slipped back into her room. She found a complimentary note pad by the hotel telephone and grabbed a pen from her handbag before she made her way back outside.

There was a little glass table and two chairs positioned at a corner of the balcony so she sat on one chair and propped her feet up on the other. Chewing on the end of her pen, she began to think about what she really wanted in a housemate.

Really, how hard could it be to find someone?

* * *

The following Tuesday night, Hermione posted her ad. She had advertised on an Internet web page that other people used to find housemates or a share house. Hannah had suggested it to her and she had checked it out to get an idea of how to word her request.

Her final product included a picture of the front of her apartment block, her request and her contact number.

_Room for rent: 28 year old professional woman seeking non-smoking, clean housemate. Must be employed and like cats. Fully furnished with own bathroom. £300/wk. Contact Hermione on the below number._

She had called Pansy to confirm the final wording and the older woman had advised her to meet as many people as possible and ask them questions about what they did with themselves before she made her mind up about one.

After she had posted the ad, she made herself a cup of tea and a sandwich for dinner. She had gone out to lunch with Ginny earlier that day so she was still full, but knew she needed to keep her blood sugar up. She gave herself ten minutes of idle sitcom watching before she switched her television off and made her way back to her computer to work.

She opened her document on Bellatrix Lestrange and continued with her mini investigation into the woman. She was currently reading the information provided by Alecto Carrow one of the witnesses whose statements matched another witnesses.

Hermione had not been able to find much information on the woman; however she knew there was something to be found. According to Carrow's statement, Bellatrix was in charge of one of the gang owned brothels and that she dispersed the money the gang received from its drug trade. This was all basic stuff and nothing new, but Hermione didn't understand how someone like Carrow knew Bellatrix Lestrange.

A background report on Alecto Carrow that she had requested two weeks ago had arrived on her desk that morning. It was not a long document as it merely set out her education, employment and family background. As far as Hermione could determine, Alecto Carrow was 24 years of age and the boyfriend of one of the minor members of the club who was not part of the police investigation. She had dropped out of a Journalism Degree at the age of 20 and her last recorded employment was as a retail operator at a clothes store. It had been three years since any tax records for the woman had been lodged. It was like Carrow disappeared off the face of the earth until the police investigation caused her to resurface again.

Hermione knew that the police had involved the tax department regarding the woman's lack of lodging tax records for three years, but that was not of Hermione's concern.

What Hermione was more interested in was why a bright intelligent young girl like Alecto would drop out of University and quit her job in the same year. The police report indicated that the year she dropped off the face of the earth was the same year she met her boyfriend Peter Pettigrew. To Hermione's mind, that seemed out of character for the woman. Alecto's mother was a nurse and her father was a banker. Her twin brothers were both talented musicians who had toured the world with their band.

Why would a young woman from such a good family and with a bright future ahead drop out of university, quit her job and shack up with a deadbeat gang member who was a mere lackey.

Hermione sighed and stretched in her seat. The mystery that was Alecto Carrow was beginning to give her a headache. She decided to give up for the night and get some sleep.

As she switched her computer off and made her way to her bedroom Crookshanks shot out of nowhere giving her a fright. Her cat had been sleeping on her bed for most of the evening and Hermione was surprised that he had bothered to move. Something must have scared him, she thought to herself as she walked into her room.

Her curtains were open and she could see out into a park but there was nothing of interest to see at that time of the night. With a swish, her curtains were closed. She tried calling for Crookshanks to come back to bed, but it seemed her cat would not be persuaded to move from his new hiding place.

"Big sook," she yelled across her apartment at her cat. "Don't come scratching on my door when you want to be let in then!" she added as she closed the door.

Throwing her days clothes into the washing basket, she slipped on a too big t-shirt and slipped into bed. She picked up her Jane Austen book and started reading from where she had last left, determined to finally finish the book. As she turned the final page, scratching on her door started.

"Crookshanks, cut it out!" she yelled at the cat behind the door. The scratching stopped briefly before it picked up again.

Groaning, she ignored her cat's pitiful attempts at attention until she finished the last page, before pushing the covers aside and walking to her door. Crookshanks was sitting at the door waiting for her to open it and let him in. "Blasted cat," she muttered to herself as Crookshanks walked past her with his head held high.

Honestly, what was the point of cats if all they did was sleep and demand attention?

Despite her annoyance, Hermione stared at her cat fondly before slipping back into bed and turning her lamp off.

Crookshanks snuggled up to her before promptly falling asleep. Hermione gave a sigh and pushed him away from her before she rolled over and closed her eyes, lulled by her cat's purrs.

* * *

In the park across the road, a shadow stood hidden by a tree stood staring at the dark window on the fourth floor. A mobile phone was being flipped between fingers as the person thought about what they had just heard.

The woman was after a housemate?

For too long she had been watched from the shadows of this park.

Now here she was providing the perfect way to get closer to her.

It was time to put the plan into motion.

* * *

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	3. Interviews with strangers

**New update. **

**Thanks for the alerts!**

* * *

By Friday evening of that week, Hermione had seven people lined up for inspections the following day. She was quite surprised with the response she had received, particularly as Lavender had complained to her over a phone call that she couldn't find the ad to show her partner. Hermione had told her to learn to use a computer before she recited what she had written in the ad.

Lavender was still put off as she had wanted to show Seamus the picture of her 'flashy' apartment, but had laughed along with Hermione about the cats thing and agreed £300 was a fair price for a furnished room, even though that was the rent she paid for an entire house.

Hermione had made plans with Pansy and Ginny for that night to meet for end of week drinks, but Ginny had pulled out at the last minute because her son had fallen ill. When Hermione had knocked on her neighbour's door, Harry had answered looking worse for wear as he had explained that James- their son- had been vomiting all afternoon.

Hermione had winced and told him that it was no problem that Ginny could not make it; they could make plans for any other time. Ginny had yelled from the background that she was sorry, and Hermione had hollered back that it was no problem before Harry shut the door and she set off to meet Pansy.

Pansy was already at the bar sipping from an orange concoction in a martini glass. Ordering a simple vodka and orange for herself at the bar, she wondered over to her friend who was examining something at the other end of the room.

"That man has been staring at you from the moment you walked in," Pansy said by way of greeting.

Hermione looked off in the direction that her friend was looking and made eye contact with a stranger. Mildly repulsed by what she saw, she turned back to Pansy with a look of disgust. "Pansy, please! I'm not that desperate!"

Pansy shrugged her shoulders and took a sip from her straw. "So? He's a guy and has the right equipment."

Rolling her eyes Hermione took a sip of her own drink. "Again, I don't need to get laid tonight."

"Everyone wants to get laid Hermione."

"Yea well, maybe another night. I just want a quiet one tonight."

Pansy snorted. "You act older than me woman."

And it was true. Pansy had a partner and a child, while Hermione only had her cat. Both women worked full time, yet it seemed like Hermione was the older of the two with the way she acted. She rarely got drunk and rarely bothered with one night stands. With interviews the next morning for prospective housemates, she did not want to be floating around on some sort of post-coital cloud. Or if the guy was bad in bed, grumpy that she didn't get a decent lay.

"So tell me about your plans for tomorrow."

"I need a plan?" Hermione panicked.

Pansy laughed. "No, of course not; you're only showing them your house. I mean like, what are you going to wear?"

"Why would my clothing choice matter?" Hermione asked with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

Pansy snickered. "You have men coming to look at the house, correct?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well, there you are then. You don't want to greet the men wearing daggy track suits or with no make-up on."

Slightly offended, Hermione spluttered at her friend's words. "I never wear daggy track suits. And why should I wear make up? If I choose a guy, he's going to see me without makeup."

"Yes, but by then he will know your personality and will find you totally unappealing."

Hermione leant over and smacked her friend across the arm. "Hey, that hurt!"

"You know I love you," Pansy chortled. "But seriously, look presentable at least tomorrow."

Hermione sighed before responding. "Pansy, I do have some self-respect. Of course I'm going to look decent. I'll even be carrying Crookshanks." At Pansy's raised eyebrow, Hermione added, "Or will that make me look like a batty cat lady?"

"Batty cat lady," Pansy smirked as she took another sip of her drink.

For a short while the two women sat in companionable silence as they people watched. The Hogshead was a regular bar for them and they knew many of the patrons who frequented the place. They were approached by a couple of people and both girls allowed themselves to get caught up in conversation.

After Hermione's work colleague walked away, Pansy was still conversing with a middle aged man. Leaving them to their own conversation, Hermione sat back and watched the live band play. They were a group of young girls all dressed in black who called themselves The Weird Sisters, but whether they were sisters was a mystery to Hermione, and despite them being regular performers, she still did not know if they were related.

Sucking on her drink, Hermione thought about the following morning. She was slightly nervous to be inviting someone new into her beloved apartment, but it was as good as any other time to take that step. Her trip to France was booked and she was hoping the housemate would be okay with looking after Crookshanks for her. Having Harry and Ginny as neighbours was good, but she often felt like she burdened them too much with her pet.

Pansy's loud laugh caught Hermione's attention. Based on experience, it was her 'get me out of here' laugh, which usually required Hermione to interrupt and save her friend from whatever suffering she was experiencing.

Really, what were girl friends for if not to save you from creepy old men?

* * *

Saturday morning dawned grey and drizzly.

She had two hours before the first person was scheduled to arrive, so she took her time to shower and dress. Opening the door so that the steam could escape and turning the fan on to help evaporate the condensation, she padded from her ensuite straight into her walk-in-robe. She decided to dress for the weather, and chose a pair of black skinny jeans and a simple red tank top. Pansy had told her to dress up but personally she thought it was a bit silly to dress up.

Anyway, the jeans made her ass look amazing, so really she was primping herself a little.

Once she was dressed, she walked back into her bathroom and towel dried her hair as best as she could. It was a messy birds nest of curls, but with some deft wrist movements, she created a simple- albeit messy- bun.

Deeming herself appropriate for showing guests through her house after applying some mascara and a bit of foundation powder, she made her way into the kitchen for a cup of tea and toast.

Breakfast only took her ten minutes and so she spent the rest of the time before 11am cleaning up. She wasn't a messy person, but Crookshanks shed a lot of fur so there was always something that needed to be vacuumed or dusted.

At five to eleven, Hermione's buzzer went off. As she looked up from rearranging her book shelf, she heard a male voice: "'Sup. This is Dean. I have an appointment at eleven to look at yo room."

Hermione approached the box set against the wall next to her door and pressed the button completely miffed about the use of 'sup' and 'yo'. People used that language? Deciding not to judge until she had met him, Hermione responded, "Hi Dean. I'll be down in just a moment."

Dean Thomas turned out to be a dark skinned man who wore his pants too low and his hat backwards. Hermione was glad to see he wasn't sporting good chains; that would have really fit the cliché stereotype. With a smile she introduced herself and walked him to the elevator. Dean seemed to be in his late twenties, maybe the same age as her.

He was prattling off questions about her apartment before they even left the elevator and to her amusement he took his hat off when she opened the door and invited him in. "Yo, this is a sweet crib dude."

Slightly raising her eyebrow at the use of the word dude- she hadn't been called that in, well, ever- Hermione gave him a tour of the house. Crookshanks made his way out from under the table to twine around her legs while she was showing him the view from the glass windows.

Dean looked down and said, "'Sup cat?"

Hermione picked up Crookshanks and smiled as she heard him our deeply. "This is Crookshanks. Do you like cats?"

Dean was looking at the ginger animal with some trepidation but he still nodded his head in confirmation. "They the bomb man." It was clear to Hermione though that he had little interest for her pet.

After she had led him back outside the apartment block, Hermione sighed in relief. Well, that was one down, and she hoped that no one else was like him. If she had to hear the word 'Yo' or 'Dude' again, she would likely surrender herself to the nearest psychiatric ward.

For a twenty nine year old man, he seemed rather childish in Hermione's opinion. She knew that some men dressed and talked like that- it was hip or something- but she had no interest in having a 'hip' person as her housemate.

She wanted someone simple, someone quiet and who wouldn't talk her ear off with words that shouldn't be used out of Hollywood movies.

It was another hour before the next prospective housemate arrived. To Hermione's relief, it was a woman who spoke decent English when she introduced her arrival with "This is Millicent Bulstrode. I'm here to check out the room."

When Hermione went downstairs to greet Millicent, she was met with a large woman standing in front of a tall willowy looking man.

Unsure if the woman was Millicent, Hermione opened the door and asked, "Hi, I was just buzzed. Are you Millicent?"

The big woman beamed at her even as she reached behind her and dragged the tall willowy looking man to her side. "Yup, that's me! And this strapping fellow here is my boyfriend. We're here to look at the room," she boomed.

Was today full of clichés? Hermione wondered. But first, she needed to rectify something. "Oh, I thought it was just one person looking at the room. I'm not sure if I am ready to have two extra people living with me."

Millicent let out a hoarse laugh. "It's not for us woman! It's for me, but Percy here will most likely be with me most nights, so we decided to come together."

Hermione frowned slightly but stepped back and allowed them into the foyer. She led them to the elevator and pressed the button for level 4. She gave the couple the rundown of her apartment as they ascended. In her mind though, she had already decided that Millicent was a no. She had only ever intended one person to be in the room.

Actually, she hadn't considered a housemate having a partner. She had been out of the dating loop for too long it seemed since partners would obviously come and stay the night.

Gods, finding a housemate was so much hard work! She could be working on cracking the mystery that was Bellatrix Lestrange right now!

It didn't take long for Millicent and her partner to walk through the apartment. Millicent seemed enamoured with the kitchen and began talking to Hermione about her various appliances. Apparently her coffee machine was state of the art. Not that Hermione cared- she didn't know how to use it anyway.

Percy started sneezing the moment Crookshanks made an appearance, so the two left shortly after, much to Hermione's relief! Millicent seemed like such a dynamic person- nothing like the calm and quiet person she was after!

At one in the afternoon, she was showing a new woman around the apartment. She had introduced herself as "Hey, It's Astoria. Just wondering how I get in. I'm here to look at the room". At first Hermione had thought she was an alright woman- she was a secretary for a doctor and so was working full time, but eventually Hermione worked out what sort of woman Astoria really was.

It was by accident that she found out really. After the last couple, Hermione decided to question about partners. "So, Astoria. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Astoria had looked at her with her wide blue eyes and had smirked. "Yea I do. And he's leaving his wife for me," she had tittered, clearly proud of herself.

Hermione had stared in shock at the woman.

_Really_?!

To her horror, Astoria had then launched into a detailed story of how her and 'my darling Severus' had met. She had never met a gold digger before, but this right in front of her was clearly one.

By the time Hermione had managed to kick the woman out of her door with a "Press the elevator button for ground and just walk out"- she had refused to walk the woman out to the foyer- Hermione was in need of a strong cup of tea!

And so it went on. Every person who could possibly be an absolutely awful match seemed to come see her room for rent. The rest of the prospective housemates were males in their late twenties to mid thirties. Two had children and asked if they could have their children to visit. One man had visitation rights every second week- Hermione knew he was definitely out of the picture, especially as soon as he had said he had his children for a whole week!

Absolutely not!

* * *

By four o'clock that afternoon, Hermione was quite positively exhausted. None of the people she had seen so far had interested her in the least. That Astoria girl made her want to bang her head against a brick wall. Really, how was someone that dense?

She knew she had two more appointments at four thirty, both men. After the day she had had, she was glad they were both coming at the same time. She was quite prepared to give up and buy another cat.

At four twenty, her buzzer went off for what she hoped was the last time that day. This one was early she noted, but that didn't bother her; she liked punctual people.

As she began to rise from the sofa to go across to the intercom, she was startled as a male voice said, "Shit, how do I use this thing?"

Raising an eyebrow in amusement, she pressed the button on the box and replied, "I think you have it figured."

Silence met her for so long that she wondered if the person was still there. "So, I'm going to come down and get you now, ok?" she drawled slowly into the box.

Silence met her again, so she just sighed and opened her door. Really, how hard was it to press a button and speak?

When she arrived in the foyer, she opened the big double glass doors to greet the next person she would show around. To her surprise, a young man was standing in front of her.

He looked no older than twenty and he was standing there nervously pulling on the cuffs of a long sleeved shirt. He didn't seem to have an umbrella, so he was looking rather damp with his hair plastered to his forehead and dripping down his face. He met her gaze and gave her a nervous smile.

Raising his hand to the back of his head, the man- or was it boy?- said, "Hi, uh, sorry about that. I've never used one before."

Hermione gave him a smile and stepped back allowing him to walk in. "No problems. I'm Hermione by the way. And you are?"

The man-boy- as she had now dubbed him because of her confusion of his age- ran a hand through his hair to get rid of any excess water. "Uh, Draco?"

Hermione thinned her lips in annoyance. He was asking her his name? Really? She let out a muted sigh before plastering a smile on her face. "Great. Well, my apartment is on the fourth floor," and with that, she led the way to the elevators.

Before she could even take more than three steps, the man-boy spoke. "Uh, is there by chance a staircase? I kind of walked in the rain, and well, it's cold."

Hermione let herself show a small smile on her face. Personally she preferred to take the stairs over the elevator, but had been riding the elevator all day because of the coming and going people. Not everyone was as eager to stay healthy as she was.

The man-boy noticed her smile and gave her a watery smile in return but didn't say anything.

"I can get you a towel when we get upstairs so you can dry off, but yes, the stairs are fine. I actually prefer them to the lift," she added as she led the way to the fire escape stairs.

Her guest trailed behind her silently.

Much to her satisfaction, the man-boy was able to keep abreast with her during the trip up four levels of stairs. She commented on his fitness level to which he responded with, "I'm actually in the army; this is easy stuff for me."

At this revelation, Hermione stumbled. Waving off the proffered hand, she murmured "Wow," before climbing the last flight of stairs in a daze.

Clearly she needed to give him a new nickname. Despite his age, no male in the army was a boy.

Hermione herself had once known a boy in the army. Memories threatened to wash over her, but she held them back by focussing on climbing the last flight of stairs as quick as she could.

Unsurprisingly, the man behind her kept up with her quickened pace like it was a walk in the park.

After they stepped out of the fire exit door on her level, Hermione led him to one of two doors on her landing. Deciding now was not the time to go down memory lane she put on a quirky demeanour as she pointed to her door then to the door down the other end. "This one is mine. The room down the hall belongs to an elderly couple."

Draco nodded his head but remained silent as she twisted the key in the lock and stepped into her apartment. She could see Crookshanks on his favourite arm chair and she quickly moved to pick him up needing some sort of familiar comfort.

With her cat in her arms, she turned back to the army boy. With a flourish of her arm, she gestured around her. "Well, this is my apartment. Right now we are in the living room, where I am happy for you to hang out in if you don't bring a television with you when you move in." She noticed the boy looking around with interest. "I actually work a lot, so I rarely bother to watch it." she added.

Pointing to her right, she indicated the presence of the kitchen. "Do you cook?" she asked curiously.

"SPAM in a can ma'am," Draco said to her with a wink.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the corniness of his words rhyming but she still grinned at him despite herself. Suddenly remembering that he was still wet, she directed him to follow her down the hallway to their left. Her bedroom was the door at the end of the short corridor while the spare bedroom and the 'study' (aka, her junk room) were set on opposite sides of the hallway facing each other with the toilet and bathroom being set next to the spare room.

She grabbed a towel from the bathroom and gave it to Draco who took it and instantly ran it through his wet hair. "I'd offer you some clothes, but er, I don't have guy clothes here. And I don't think you'd want to wear a dress," she said with a smirk.

Draco ducked his head in embarrassment. "I'm okay, really. I shouldn't have even accepted this. It's my own fault for walking in the rain."

Hermione crossed her arms and stared at the younger man. "Yes, well, we all learn the hard way."

At her tone, Draco looked at her sheepishly. Unable to hold the facade anymore, Hermione started laughing. "It's okay," she reassured him. "I've been caught in the rain plenty of times. It happens."

"I was supposed to make a good first impression," Draco grumbled to himself much to Hermione's amusement.

Shaking her head, she walked into the adjacent room. "This is the room that was advertised. Like I said, it's fully furnished with a double bed and a chest of drawers. There's plenty of closet space as well. And the bathroom is yours as I have my own in my room."

Draco walked around the perimeter of the room sitting on the bed and bouncing before opening the cupboard doors. "Sweet," he said as he stuck his head inside the cupboard to check out the large walk in space.

From her spot by the door, Hermione watched him silently. Looking at this young boy- because that's really what he was despite his occupation- in front of her, she didn't know what she should do with him. Of all the prospective housemates she'd met that day, he was the one the sparked her interest the most.

She suddenly found herself getting his attention, "Draco," Draco stuck his head out of the cupboard and leant his body against the frame. He cocked an eyebrow up as she asked her question. "Why did you come here today?"

Apparently confused, he shoved his hands into his pockets and frowned at her. "I mean like, well, why do you need a room? Don't the army do living arrangements on base?" she asked, clarifying her question.

"Oh, right," Draco said as he looked everywhere but at her.

Hermione waited in silence for Draco to start talking again.

"Well, erm, yea the army does accommodation, but I just felt like being free from it. My dad is one of the top tacticians on the base, and I don't want to be shadowed by his name all the time."

Hermione nodded slowly. He was young, maybe he wanted to have some fun and not feel threatened about his father's presence. "Well, that's fair enough," she said as she stood up.

Suddenly, the buzzer went off. Hermione frowned for a moment wondering why someone was buzzing her, but then she remembered there was supposed to be another person coming to look at the room.

Smacking herself in the head for forgetting, she quickly said to Draco "I'll be right back. There was someone else coming to look at the room at four thirty as well. Keep looking around if you want."

As she walked out of the room, she missed the way Draco had stood up straight. She was down the hall by the time he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and out of the apartment when Draco hissed the words, "What the hell are you playing at? I have her!"

* * *

**And the mysteries begin! Who's Draco talking to? And who's at the door? :O Any guesses?!**


	4. Pretentious men

**Thanks for the follows, favs and reviews!**

**Hope you like.**

**J.K.R owns all Harry Potter names.**

* * *

Downstairs, Hermione was greeting her final prospective housemate for the day. He had introduced himself as Blaise, an odd name in Hermione's opinion, but she couldn't talk as her name wasn't exactly common either.

They took the elevator up to the fourth floor in silence. Hermione was beyond caring about making idle chit-chat and the man made no move to interact with her. He was of a tall build and solid looking, most likely around her age if she was to take a guess. When they stepped out of the elevator, she gestured with her hand as she had done with all the housemates. "This is the fourth floor where my apartment is. The door down there belongs to an elderly couple. They are lovely people."

She twisted the door knob and opened the door- she hadn't bothered locking it this time as Draco was still in the apartment. Something niggled at her about that, but she decided to think more on it later.

They stepped through the door and she called out to Draco to see where he was. "Draco?"

With no warning of his approach on the hardwood flooring, his head popped around the corner that was the laundry. "Yes?"

Hermione gave him a wide smile. "Just checking where you are. I'm about to show Blaise-" she gestured to the man standing silently behind her "-the tour of the house. You're welcome to stay for the stuff I missed with you."

Draco was staring at the man behind her with a look she couldn't decipher. "Right," he slowly drawled. "Well, I've already had a look around everywhere except the kitchen, so you carry on and I'll let you know when I'm done."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at the lack of eye contact. From her point, it looked like he was sizing the man behind her up, which was ridiculous as Blaise had at least double the muscle package that he did.

_Men_, Hermione thought with a roll of her eyes.

Blaise shifted behind her and spoke for the first time since introducing himself. "Draco," he said dismissively, before touching her arm. "Shall we look around? I have somewhere else to be shortly."

Hermione turned to face the man and smiled. "Sure. Well, this is the living room. I am happy for you to use it if you do not bring your own television," she recited, having done this speech all day.

She gestured for him to follow her and she showed him the room, the bathroom and the laundry. They passed Draco looking into kitchen cupboards and inspecting the various appliances on the bench. It was when they were standing by the big double glass doors looking at the view when Draco finally announced his departure. "Well, thanks for today Hermione," he said as he came to stand by her side. Blaise was watching them from his spot on her other side.

"It was no problem. I am not sure when I will be in contact, as I have had a lot of interest today."

Draco nodded his head in understanding, before shooting a hard look at Blaise which Hermione missed.

Despite his protests that she didn't need to leave just to walk him out, Hermione insisted on seeing Draco to the elevator. They stood in awkward silence while the elevator made its way down from the seventh floor, and Draco stepped into the square box when the doors dinged open. She was in the process of opening her mouth to say goodbye when he stepped forward and threw his arm over the door effectively blocking it.

"You'll be OK with that Blaise guy in there?" he asked with an intense expression on his face.

Hermione cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at the concern in his voice but she reassured him that she would be fine- she had men coming to her house all day, so one more wouldn't hurt after all.

"He looks like he wants to eat you Hermione."

Snorting at the absurdity of his words, Hermione just shook her head and laughed. "I'm a big girl Draco," she said as she flicked the arm that was holding the elevator doors open. "Really, I'll be fine. You get back to base safely though, yeah?"

She sighed in relief when the elevators finally closed behind him. For such a young man, he had seemed worried about Blaise's presence.

When she walked back into her apartment, the tall man was pulling his hand away from looking at a figurine on her bookshelf. She smiled at him as she asked, "Well, if that's all?"

Blaise nodded, and started to walk towards where she stood by the door. His question of "So when will I be able to move in?" however startled her from continuing further out towards the elevator.

_A bit pretentious expecting to move in_, she thought to herself as she moved her legs again, speaking over her shoulder. "Well as I told Draco, I am not sure when I will be back in contact with people. I am quite busy at work, but I expect it to be by Friday."

Blaise nodded his head and the two stood by the elevator waiting for it to open. The man was staring at her the whole time much to her discomfort, and she let off a muted sigh of relief when the elevator doors finally arrived and he stepped in. With a wave, she hurried back to her apartment for a much needed drink as soon as the elevator doors closed.

So maybe she had missed the looks that Draco had seen that had promoted the eating comment, but those looks he has been giving her at the end creeped her out!

"Whose smart idea was this housemate thing again?" She murmured out loud as she crossed to the kitchen and filled the kettle with water. Crookshanks- who had been mysteriously missing while Blaise had been looking around- came out from his hiding spot and twined around her legs purring loudly.

After setting some cat food in a bowl for him, she made her way to the couch with her cup of tea. Setting the mug down on the side table, she picked up a notepad and pen and began listing the pros and cons of the people she had met today right under the list she had written about the housemate idea.

* * *

"So who are you going for?" Pansy asked down the phone.

Pansy had called right on six o'clock that night and had demanded that Hermione tell her everything. Hermione had spent the past five minutes recounting to her friend the horrors of her day.

"Well, there's no way I'm having children in this place. So those two men are definitely out!" she declared with a shudder.

Pansy laughed. "What about the girls?"

Hermione pursed her lips in disgust. "No way am I having that Astoria girl. Dear lord she was a total airhead! And Millicent would have been ok, except she had a partner who she expected could stay over. Don't people think about courtesy these days?" She grumbled, still annoyed that Millicent had just assumed her partner was entitled to stay over.

"Huh, we didn't think to put that in the ad did we?"

Hermione smirked. "I still managed to attract hot guys, that's for sure. The girls will be so proud."

Pansy gasped in excitement. "Spill!"

"The last two guys who came were gorgeous. Although one was probably still a teenager, so he's jailbait, but the last one was...phew!"

"OK, what!?" Pansy all but shrieked.

From her spot on the couch Hermione winced as she withdrew the phone from her ear. "They're just guys Pansy. And I'm not stupid enough to sleep with a housemate, so don't even think about telling me to choose the sexiest one."

Pansy remained silent for a few beats before demanding more information on the 'phew' guy.

"Really Pans? We're a bit too old for that aren't we?"

"Oh pish posh," she said. "A girl is never too old to daydream about a man she doesn't have to wake up next to every morning."

"Come on," Hermione laughed down the phone. "Theo's not that old. Well, if you get rid of the beer belly, the hairy chest and the old man beard," she giggled.

Pansy's outraged voice shrieked "My husband is not fat or hairy!" much to Hermione's amusement, and the two woman spent the rest of the conversation talking about Theo's desire to grow a mustache for Movember.

After the two women had hung up, Hermione relaxed back into her chair and channel surfed, finally settling on a Jackie Chan movie to fill the silence. The events of the day had exhausted her, and she was in the process of dozing off when she was startled by her door buzzer going off. Looking at her wrist watch wondering who on earth it was, Hermione noticed it was only half past seven. With a sigh, she pretended she was not there, but the person downstairs seemed persistent on pressing the button.

The voice coming from the box caught her attention however, and she soon found herself down in the foyer opening the glass doors to a sheepish looking Draco.

"Hey, er, sorry about the lateness," he apologized for the third time, having already said he was sorry twice over the intercom less than two minutes before.

Hermione shrugged and leant against the door waiting for him to disclose his reason for turning up at her apartment block. She hoped it wasn't a "Oh good, you're still alive" visit. That would really annoy her.

"I think I left my phone upstairs," he said to her while rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I didn't have your number, so I couldn't call before I came."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you call your own phone?" she asked, deadpan.

Draco froze for the briefest moment and it would have gone unnoticeable except for the fact that Hermione was well trained in identifying body language. "The phone got wet when I was walking here earlier this afternoon," he responded with a blank face.

Too blank, Hermione thought to herself as she surveyed him. He was lying to her, she knew it but she didn't question it as she stood back and allowed him to enter the foyer. He led the way to the staircase, and with a smirk, challenged her to a race to the fourth floor.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the childish antics, but agreed. The two set off up the stairs with Hermione hopelessly lagging behind as Draco used his strength to propel his legs faster than her.

He was leaning against the fire escape door inspecting his nails when she finally made it up the stairs. She childishly stuck her tongue out as he flexed his arm muscles and made a show of stretching. Brushing past him, she led the way to her apartment door. "Do you know where you left it?" she asked as they stepped into the room.

Draco shrugged. "It could be anywhere actually."

Hermione trailed behind him as he backtracked their previous steps in silence. Unable to quell her burning curiosity, she asked him "Have you met Blaise before?"

Draco paused at the entrance to the kitchen and turned to face her with a neutral expression. "No, why?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that said 'You're not fooling me'.

Draco sighed and leant against the kitchen bench. "Honestly? I didn't like the way he was looking at you. Women like you deserve better than to be leered at."

Speechless, she stood staring at Draco in shock before he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Fucking hell, real smooth Malfoy."

"Who's Malfoy?" she asked stupidly, her prior shock being obliterated by the weird word.

Draco looked at her like she was stupid. Maybe she was, Hermione couldn't tell anymore. "My last name," was all he said as he began pulling drawers open still looking for his phone.

"Oh," she murmured as she watched him looking under the sink. Really, why would be put his phone under a sink? Why would he even look under the sink anyway?

"Damn!" Draco cursed out loud. His face was beginning to sweat and he was running his tongue over his lips in agitation.

"Still not found it?" she queried as he stalked past her and made his way back to the living room.

She took his "Useless piece of shit" as an answer of no.

Now it was her turn to lean against the kitchen entrance and watch him look around her living room pulling all sorts of things from their spots to find the phone. Really, how could he have dropped his phone behind her bookcase?

Suddenly, Draco stood up and looked at her hard. "Can I be honest with you?"

Not knowing what to say, Hermione just shrugged and said, "Um, sure."

"I really want you to choose me as your housemate."

What was it with this man and leaving her speechless?! Hermione stared at him in- surprise surprise- shock after he said those words.

"I'm happy to pay more for the room if you want more money. And I can cook really well," he rushed, not giving her time to recover. "I'm clean and your cat likes me. And we seem to get along all right."

Hermione just stared at him. She had not liked it when Blaise had assumed he was able to move in, but somehow the way that Draco said it, it didn't seem so obnoxious.

She sighed as she made her way over to her couch. She gestured for Draco to sit down next to her before speaking. "Draco. I've had a long day. I've already had that Blaise guy ask when he can move in, and I don't need to hear it from you too." Draco scowled at the mention of Blaise's name, but she ignored it. "It's been a long time since I last lived with someone. I need to know I am making the right decision for me when I ask someone to move in."

Draco nodded his head in understanding and began to rise from the seat. "Yea sure. It's your decision in the end. Just trying to sell myself," Draco said with a wink, his mood having shifted dramatically from the almost desperation she witnessed before.

Hermione smiled and stood also. "Well, if I find your phone, I'll be sure to let you know." With a frown she stopped talking for a beat before picking up the note pad and pen next to her. Flicking to a new page, she held it out to him. "Write another number I can contact you on, since I'd have your phone."

Draco smirked and jotted down some numbers. "Well, how else are you going to let me know when to move in."

Rolling her eyes and scoffing at his cocky statement, Hermione shooed the grinning man out of her apartment.

There was one thing to say about this Draco Malfoy, and that was that he would keep her life interesting!

* * *

**Next update next week :)**

**Any thoughts on who she'll choose?**

**x**


	5. Educated Decisions

**New Chapter at long last. Sorry about the super long delay!**

**J. owns all HP characters and references. **

**One reviewer commented that she didn't like AU stories. Normally I don't either, but this was hanging around in my head and demanded to be written. I chose HP instead of the Mortal Instruments for this one (even though it would have worked for either) as I felt it would be fun to play with these characters in a non magical setting. **

**:)**

* * *

It took her five days of conversations with her friends, but Hermione finally decided on who she wanted as a housemate by Friday. She had received calls from Daphne, Millicent and Dean about whether she was interested in them, and Hermione had firmly told Daphne and Millicent no.

When she had been discussing the housemates with Ginny, Luna, Hannah and Lavender over lunch, Luna had been interested in Dean, but admitted that Hermione would not deal well with someone who spoke in slang all the time. The four girls agreed that the Blaise guy was slightly creepy (although Lavender reminded them all that Hermione had commented on his good looks, which seemed to justify something in her books) and that the two men with kids were a definite no. Hermione barely handled babysitting James so there was no was she would cope with a child in her house every second week.

Pansy had told her to choose Draco during a phone call the day before, but the other girls weren't as convinced.

"He's a soldier. Don't they go away on excursions or something? And he could get shipped off to war!"

"Luna's right. And he's a teenager Hermione. That's like jail bait."

"No Ginny, it means she needs to ensure that she is a well preserved cougar."

"Lavender! I'm not that old! And for the last time, I'm NOT going to sleep with a housemate!"

Ginny and Luna were laughing at Hermione's expense and Lavender looked at her with a smirk. "Besides, he's too young for me. Which is also another issue I have with him- he's likely to bring other girls around. I'm not sure I'm okay with that."

Lavender rolled her eyes and Ginny shook her head. "He's young. And so are you. If you ask him not to bring girls around, then I'm sure he won't have much choice but to obey you if he wants to move in as badly as you say he does."

Hermione pursed her lips and thought about it. That was true. He did seem pretty desperate to get her to choose him. And of all the housemates Crookshanks had met, Draco had been the one who the cat had looked remotely interested in, even going as far as sniffing his hand when Draco had offered it.

"I told him I'd know by today. But I still haven't found his phone. I reckon he must have lost it on his way back from looking around the first time."

Luna looked thoughtful at that. "You are pretty clean Hermione. I'm sure if it was lost at your place you would have found it by now."

Ginny nodded. "Just like that time James lost his rattle and it was the only thing under your couch, so we didn't even search long."

"He was looking under the sink! Why he was doing that I don't know. It's a bit weird if you ask me," Lavender stated as she shredded a paper napkin.

Hermione shrugged and picked up her mug. Blowing on it, she looked off into the distance thinking about what she should do. Her instincts told her that Blaise was not ideal. She had no interest in the girls and the two men with children were a definite no. Dean would drive her crazy. Of all the people she had met, Draco was the best fit despite his age. "Okay, so I think I'm going to go with Draco."

Three sets of eyes bore down on her. Placing her mug back on the table, Hermione sat forward. "I'll let him know that I don't approve of him bringing his conquests home. I'll arrange a cleaning roster so that he has to pitch in and help me keep the place clean." Hannah nodded her head and said that was normal in share homes. "I'm going to France soon, so I'll have to make sure he is okay with looking after Crookshanks for me."

"You should also make him tell you when he is going away, so that way you can know in advance if your schedules clash," Hannah suggested practically.

Acknowledging that was a good idea, Hermione closed the topic with "And if it's truly horrible living with him, I can always kick him out with notice," as a waiter arrived with their lunches.

* * *

Hermione still hadn't found Draco's lost phone, so she called him on the number that he had written on her pad of paper. A woman picked up and Hermione asked to talk to Draco Malfoy. She was requested to give her name, and a short pause followed before she was told "Mr Malfoy will be with you shortly".

Hermione surfed the channels on the muted television as she waited for Draco to come to the phone. She wondered where she was calling. This was not a home telephone number so she assumed it was the army base.

Scuffling sounds soon reached her ears and a quick beep resounded down the line before Draco's came to the phone.

"Hermione?"

"Draco. Hi. Um, how are you?"

How did one go about offering another a room?

Draco chuckled before saying "Good, good. Is this the call that tells me you have made a decision?"

"Well yes. But it is also the call that tells you that I haven't found it."

"Found what," he asks, sounding perplexed.

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she stood and walked to the kitchen to put the kettle on. "Your phone," she responded as though it was obvious. And it really was.

A short silence followed her words and then Draco let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, have you still been looking for it?"

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione snapped down the line, "Of course I've been looking for it! And I've tried my hardest, I feel guilty and I do not appreciate you laughing at me."

Suddenly Draco's cocky demeanor changed and he donned a soothing voice. "It's okay Hermione," he said. "It's just a phone. I can replace it easily. Now, tell me the good news. Am I in?"

Hermione was tempted to hang up on him, but didn't. She recognized that he was young and stupid and probably didn't even understand why she was so upset about the lost phone in the first place. His generation was probably used to losing things and then replacing them without a second thought, but Hermione wasn't raised like that.

She sighed, hoping she wasn't about to make a big mistake. "Yes, you can move in."

Hermione expected a 'whoop' from Draco, but he stunned her when he suddenly became all business like. "Excellent. I am free to move in whenever suits you. I can pay one month's board upfront, and I will transfer this into your nominated account."

She stood there with her mouth open as he spoke. It was like she had talked to three different men in the matter of a few minutes. A sudden thought dawned on her; did he have a personality disorder? It would be just her luck to choose the person who outwardly appeared normal, but one who could change within moments.

Draco was still talking and Hermione pulled herself out of her thoughts, responding that yes, she was happy for him to move in next Thursday, and that yes, one month's board was fine for bond.

The two talked for a short while longer to arrange what he could and could not bring before Hermione hung up and made her cup of tea. It was Saturday and she had a day of work planned, determined to get more done on the Bellatrix Lestrange case. Progress had been slow so far, as she could only work on her suspicions during her own time.

And she wasn't even supposed to do that! While she was not taking documents from the office, she was sure that researching the woman in her own time was a no-no. But Hermione trusted her gut instinct, and something was telling her that the case was not as simple as it appeared.

Her phone began to ring just as she finished pouring the milk in. The number was blocked and silence met her when she said "Hello?"

She repeated "Hello" again and a voice finally spoke. It was male and it was deep. She had never heard anything like it before.

"Bitch," it hissed harshly before the phone went dead.

Hermione stood in her kitchen staring at her phone in shock. What had just happened?! Shrugging, she left it on the counter and made her way to her computer with her mug in one hand. It must have been a wrong number she mused to herself as she placed her mug next to her and turned her computer on. As far as she was aware, she had no reasons for someone to call her a 'bitch'.

There wasn't a pissed off ex-boyfriend, or even crazy psycho ex-girlfriend of a boyfriend in her life. For a 28 year old this was strange but Hermione accepted her lack of romantic life.

She spent most of her Saturday trawling through the Internet looking for references of Bellatrix Lestrange and Alecto Carrow. As it was, the name Carrow brought up numerous searches regarding the band the woman's twin brothers were in. The Carrow twins had been in numerous interviews and Hermione absentmindedly clicked one just to gain an insight into Alecto's family. She still could not work out how siblings could take such drastic paths.

The interview was on an online gossip site and Hermione's eyes flicked over the words uninterestedly. She had never heard the music- it wasn't to her taste- but apparently the younger generation lapped it up. Something she read suddenly caught her attention. The interviewer was asking the boys about their childhood and if they were heart breakers. One of the twins had said that their babysitter had caught him trying to sneak a girl into his room and that the girl had never talked to him again. Her eyes got wider as she read that the babysitter's name was Bella.

Could this be the link she was looking for? The age difference was about right- there was 8 years between Alecto and Bellatrix, so it put Bellatrix at the right age to be a babysitter. It was sketchy and not enough evidence to put to her boss, but she had a feeling this Bella was Bellatrix. Bella was not a common name for a girl's first name so it would make sense that it was a shortened nickname.

For the rest of the day Hermione went through numerous interviews taken with the Carrow twins to see if any more clues could be obtained. One of the twins mentioned in one interview that one of their songs had been inspired by the babysitter that hated them, yet adored their sister. Hermione felt she had hit jackpot when the article included lyrics the boys said summed up the babysitter who would encourage their little sister to dob on them to her parents.

"_Bella! Bella! You and your eyes hiding your tricks and lies as you whisper in her ear"_

By the time she went to bed that night, her mind was whirling with the new possibilities that Bellatrix and Alecto had known each other for much longer than their time in the bikie club together. Had Bellatrix been grooming Alecto to the criminal lifestyle even at the young age of 8? Hermione knew it was possible: she had encountered situations where kids had been groomed to be criminals much younger.

It was intriguing, and she determined that she would get to the bottom of it as soon as she could.

* * *

Hidden behind a tree outside, a shadowy figure watched as the light to the fourth floor bedroom went out. A mobile phone was drawn from a pocket and buttons were pressed. Moments passed before the light on the fourth floor came back on.

A button was pressed again and the message that had just glowed into the dark disappeared.

_Bitch._


	6. Becoming friends

**Thanks to my followers. **

**JK Rowling owns all HP characters and references**

* * *

Moving Draco Malfoy into her apartment was a simple job. He did not have a bed, dresser or any other bulky item, so it was just a matter of carrying a few boxes of clothes, shoes and personal items. They bought take out that Thursday night- Hermione's shout to welcome her new housemate- and after sitting down with the plastic containers and chopsticks, she outlined the rules she expected him to follow.

She carefully explained her request that he did not bring casual women back to the apartment, but if he got into a serious relationship she asked if she could meet the girl first before meeting her half naked in the kitchen the next morning. Draco didn't seem fazed by this and told her that women weren't an issue. Hermione didn't bat an eyebrow at this revelation and instead insisted that any man he brought back wore clothes in the kitchen. She reassured him that she would show him the same respect. She didn't mention that her bringing men home was a rare occurrence.

She was surprised by Draco's sudden choking fit and she rushed to pat him on the back to dislodge whatever food he had swallowed wrong. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he tried to pull air in. When he was finally breathing normally he looked at her incredulously. "I'm not gay Hermione." Hermione shrugged. It wasn't any of her business; she just didn't want to see strange naked men in her kitchen. Well, unless they had just come from her own bed and he was making her breakfast. "No really, I'm not. I just know that women won't be an issue for me."

"Draco, it's okay really. It's none of my business what you do. Just get a hotel or something if you need to satisfy...urges. With a partner that is. If you feel the need to-" she waved her hand towards his groin awkwardly "do other stuff, then just... well, maybe keep it down yea?"

The blonde man in front of her was opening and closing his mouth in shock. She couldn't blame him though; how often would a twenty year old have this conversation?

Under his breath Hermione heard him mutter something but she wasn't interested in finding out what it was. With this awkward conversation now out of the way, they continued to eat and got to know each other better. She discovered that Draco's mother was no longer alive, and that his father had pretty much forced him to join the army. It was a family tradition apparently. Hermione got the sense that his father was strict and raised his son like a soldier.

Hermione in turn told him about what it was like when she grew up in a family with just her mum and then her step-dad and step-brother. She didn't talk about her birth father and Draco didn't press it. He asked her about her job and how she could stand working in an office all the time. Hermione had smiled at him and told him that when she was absorbed in her work she didn't notice anything around her. It wouldn't matter if she was inside or working in a field of grass in the middle of the country.

Crookshanks had popped up halfway through and had curled himself up next to Draco, much to Hermione's amusement. Her cat didn't like many people and she was glad that he liked her new house guest. The more they talked, the more she felt comfortable with him. She doubted she would have felt this comfortable with Blaise even though he was closer to her age than Draco. Draco was definitely the youngest of the people she had shown around, and she knew it must be costing him a pretty dime to be able to afford living here. She herself had a trust fund from her late grandmother which helped pay the cost of living in this upscale part of town. Her rent was not cheap but she loved her flat and it's positioning so she did not feel guilty about drawing money out. Her grandmother had told her to live like a Queen with the money, and that's exactly what she was doing. She was 28 and had a full time job that could afford her many things in life but she would never have been able to live like this without her Grandmother's money.

By the time they had finished eating, their conversation had fizzled slightly and she had turned the television on just to prevent any awkward silences. She was exhausted and in desperate need for an early night, yet boxes were piled haphazardly around Draco's room and she felt like a bad host going to bed when he was still awake.

When a yawn threatened to break her jaw she conceded defeat and admitted that he now lived with her and she had no need to stay awake just for him.

She picked up the empty Chinese containers and took them to the sink. Draco was channel surfing and Hermione watched him from the kitchen like he was an insect under a microscope. So this was the twenty year old man in his natural environment then? At twenty she had her head stuck in a book- whether she was studying or not- so it was interesting to see the differences. She had often rolled her eyes at her step-brother and his friends whenever they were around the house. They were boisterous and messy and spoke about girls too much and with not enough respect. It wasn't like she could do much except tell them to grow up and walk away.

"Draco?" she caught his attention, suddenly wanting to know exactly how old her housemate was. "How old are you?"

From his spot on the sofa he looked at her with a questioning look on his face. "I'm turning twenty two in a few weeks," he responded.

Hermione's surprise must have been evident as he stood up and approached her. "Why? Is that a problem? Am I too young?"

Quickly shaking her head, she rushed her reply. "No it's just that I thought you were younger. You do look very young you know."

A short bark of laughter suggested Draco's amusement. "How old did you think I was?"

Avoiding eye contact she shrugged. After a pause she embarrassingly responded with "I actually thought you were twenty."

A loud snort drew her attention and she looked back at Draco. He was now leaning on the kitchen counter directly opposite and pinning her with a gaze. She shifted slightly, uncomfortable with such an intense look. "Yes, I do look it don't I. Fortunately, it has its benefits."

Hermione drew her eye brows together in confusion. "How can looking so young be a benefit?" She had hated looking young when she was twenty-two. She had to show her ID everywhere and new lawyers to her department had often thought she was an intern instead of a qualified lawyer. The amount of requests for photocopying and coffee she got was ridiculous. Then again, in ten years time she would probably wish to look younger.

A strange look crossed his face and Hermione gave him a look that said 'go on, tell'. He hesitated and ran a hand through his hair as though to buy time. "Well, in my line of work it's a benefit to look young."

Hermione didn't see how that worked in the army, but she didn't press it further. Maybe it had something to do with fitness and stamina. Or maybe even a way to confuse the enemy? Maybe he liked to look young for the girls who must throw themselves at him. He seemed uncomfortable with talking about it, and she didn't want to start interrogating him in the kitchen on his first night. Instead, she gave him a beatific smile and announced her desire to get some sleep. She told Draco not to worry when he had offered to clean the sink full of dishes, and he acquiesced, trotting back to the television.

She shook her head as she walked past him and called for Crookshanks to follow her. Once she was in her room she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So far things were working out well. He had accepted her request that he look after Crookshanks, and had agreed with writing up a schedule of any planned field trips so she knew when he was home. She had felt guilty at asking him to help her clean the house, but she knew it was only fair, even if it was Crookshanks who made most of the mess with his fur.

There was a full moon that night Hermione noticed as she went to close her curtains. The white light caressed the tree tops in the park and she sighed wistfully at the beauty. The park was one of the reasons she had chosen this apartment. It certainly beat looking out over a street and it provided her with easy access to a walking route.

She made a mental note to take Draco through the park over the weekend. She had picked up that he liked to run every day, and she thought the park was a nicer place to run than the bustling streets.

As she pulled the sheets back on her bed, she eyed her briefcase sitting leaning against the wall next to her door. She had not done any work on the Carrow girl today because of Draco moving in, but she knew she would have to work extra hard tomorrow night. The case on Bellatrix was coming along slowly at work due to issues with other defendants but she was confident that she would be prepared in time for the trial even if she wasn't able to use the research she had been doing. It wasn't a difficult case really but there was more to it she knew and she wanted to present the truth to the Court. If Alecto really knew Bellatrix well, then her witness statement to the police could be a lie. Bellatrix could be more involved in the Death Eater Club than she was being charged with.

It was important to Hermione that she get to the bottom of this as her birth father had been killed in a bikie brawl twenty years ago and she did not want Bellatrix to get off with a light penalty because of the fabrication of witness statements. Her father's killer had served only part of his sentence before 'new evidence' came to light and he was released.

She was too exhausted to read that night so she turned the light off, snuggling into her blankets with Crookshanks curled up at her feet. She had a positive feeling about Draco being her housemate and she let out a quiet laugh as she thought back to her previous fears of her housemate being a murderer. He was a trained killer, but he didn't look like he had it in him to be a cold-blooded murderer. The kid seemed absolutely harmless. Well, harmless to her. To other younger women he would be a serial heartbreaker, this much she could tell. There was no way she would ever fall for a guy in the army again. Especially not one so many years younger than her.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Hermione, her cat woke from his doze two hours later and lifted his head to stare at the door. He cocked his head to the left and flicked his tail. Someone was moving around the apartment. Crookshanks knew that his mistress had a friend over and this pleased him. His mistress would no longer be lonely and he could get more sleep into his day without feeling obligated to look after her. She sometimes looked sad and he didn't like it.

While Crookshanks approved of his mistresses new friend, he didn't approve of the way the man was moving around in the dark. His mistress wouldn't mind the light- she normally kept one on anyway. It was silly to walk around in the dark- how did the man-human know where he was going? He could see perfectly fine of course, but he had seen his mistress walk into too many things because she had bad eyesight in the dark.

His sensitive ears perked when he heard a high pitched whine and the man's voice speaking. Crookshanks could not understand what was being said, but the man didn't sound very friendly in his opinion. Eventually Crookshanks heard the man shuffle across the carpet and then the sound of plastic breaking had him standing up alert. These were strange sounds and he didn't like them. It went quiet after this and he heard a door being shut down the hall- probably the new man going to bed. He stayed alert for a few more moments but he lost interest when he heard running water. He didn't like water much so he snuggled in between his mistress' feet and curled his tail up under his chin.

Purring contentedly, he briefly wondered what the man had said. He hadn't heard anyone else in the apartment but his mistress sometimes talked to that hard metal thing she carried around. Maybe this man was doing the same?

* * *

As Hermione dreamt of a flying car and Crookshanks twitched his nose in his sleep, Draco Malfoy was stealthily moving around his newly obtained room. He looked under the bed and in the wardrobe. He removed the single picture on the wall and looked behind it before replacing it. He even felt around the edges of the carpet. Finally he found what he was looking for hidden on top of the door jamb. A surge of anger overwhelmed him and he spoke in a low voice so as to not wake the sleeping woman down the hall.

"I know you're there. She's mine now. This is your warning: stay away or I will kill you."


End file.
